Over the past decade, beverage dispensing equipment manufacturers have developed new and innovative beverage dispensing equipment in response to market needs and beverage equipment operator demands. These innovations have been, for the most part, adopted by the beverage dispensing industry. This trend has generally been influenced by the accelerating rate of technological innovation in the electronic and electro-mechanical component industry. The availability of new technologies has given beverage dispensing equipment manufacturers the tools to address many of the requirements of beverage dispensing operators. Advances in electronics are now enabling the use of computer controlled mixing of fountain drinks in some beverage dispensing equipment. Some of the latest liquor dispensing devices now make it possible for operators to download sales, inventory, and machine health information on-site onto portable computers. Although these computerized systems make it easier for operators to gather and analyze data, they generally do not provide real time capabilities that are needed to make a major impact on the overall business of using, maintaining and monitoring beverage dispensing equipment.